“In today’s sedentary lifestyle, maintaining a good posture is crucial for preventing various muscle and joint related problems and ensuring overall well-being. Posture ergonomics plays a vital role in promoting healthy posture. Along with healthy posture, a disciplined lifestyle is more important for avoiding such health issues. Posture ergonomics helps study the sitting or standing posture of an individual and also redesign it if required so as to provide comfort, reduce strain on joints and muscles, and increase work efficiency,” said Dr Akash Saoji, renowned orthopedic specialist in Nagpur who has worked with India national cricket team and also with prominent personalities like megastar Amitabh Bachchan, and former India cricket captain Kapil Dev. “Due to the increasing use of technology, people are spending more time sitting, leading to poor posture habits. This has resulted in a significant rise in cases of back pain, neck pain, and other musculoskeletal disorders,” he said.

 

Along with posture modifications, Dr Saoji, who conducts workshops on Posture ergonomics with various groups through his Ageing Health foundation, emphasises importance of proper diet and disciplined lifestyle to avoid problems like muscular and joint pain. He says, “Having a proper routine, taking good sleep, avoiding digital devices and having good diet play 80% role in avoiding muscoskeletal issues. Rest 20% is achieved with relevant posture modifications.” To reduce the discomfort and joint pain in daily life, Dr Saoji suggests some very small but significant posture modifications. These include sitting with feet flat on floor or footrest of about eight to ten inch; keeping knees at or below hip level; adjusting chair height for 90-degree elbow angle; adjusting monitor height at eye level at a distance of 20 to 25 inches away; and taking regular breaks from work after every 30 to 40 minutes to stretch and move the limbs. Working professionals like teachers, doctors, judges, drivers and others who have to seat for a long duration, generally suffers from such health issues. In today’s work culture, not many employers pay attention to ergonomics of the workspace as it is costly to design such workspace.

 

And here the posture ergonomics works wonders for the employees to keep themselves healthy, he states. Dr Saoji has conducted training camps of posture ergonomics for various organisations such as Force One (Elite Commando Force) in Mumbai, senior police officers in Maharashtra police; Law and Judiciary Department; many schools and colleges, Ramkrishna Math, and SEARCH organisation in Gadchiroli among others. After 40 years of age, human body develops fatigue compared to younger days. It needs more energy to function. Due to high temperature in Vidarbha region, body gets dehydrated quickly. The human body needs to be hydrated regularly. Dr Saoji suggests that there should be intake of sodium, potassium, electrolyte and amino acids. Emphasising on importance of healthy diet, Dr Saoji explains it all starts with eating unhealthy food and results in joint pain and other health issues. He says, “Eating oily, spicy food increases constipation.

 

Constipation results in increased obesity that strains the back causing back pain and other health issues.” It has been noticed that even young children complain of joint pain and other such issues. Dr Saoji blames fad of fastfood, irregular sleep, and indisciplined lifestyle of children for these issues. He says, “Children should be made aware about disciplined lifestyle and proper diet right from the young age by teachers and parents. Only by following these two things future generation can be strong.” Dr Saoji also cites an example of recent Chikungunya outbreak in city while emphasising importance of healthy lifestyle. “In recent Chikungunya outbreak in the city, people who followed disciplined and healthy lifestyle recovered sooner than those with an unhealthy lifestyle,” explains Dr Saoji. Dr Saoji has identified ‘consistency’ as most crucial element in order to avoid the musculoskeletal health issues. Asked for a crucial advice to follow, Dr Saoji said, “Healthy lifestyle is not a one time thing, its an ongoing process. Everyone should stick to it to lead a happy life.”